Visiting the Agriculture Cooperatives

As I mentioned in the previous post, the first few weeks at work were filled with research and developing a survey for the coop leaders to better understand their issues, stengths and weaknesses. We were able to survey 6 cooperatives, a group of rice and vegetable farmers, and several government officials & departments responsible for agriculture and rural development.

The majority of the cooperatives were formed in 1978 after the war to overcome the food stortage. Membership was mandatory and the cooperatives had little autonomy. In 2003, a new cooperative law was passed to give the cooperatives more power and to enable them to operate more like the international cooperative structure - similar to the way cooperatives are run in Canada and many other countries. Since the new law only a few of the cooperatives have taken initiative to become more service oriented to the members and run as an independent, profit generating entity.

The cooperatives offer services to members such as irrigation, fertilizer sales, supplying quality seeds, soil tiling, equipment rental and electricity. With both irrigation and electricity services the coops only act as intermediaries connecting the service provider with the coop memeber which only generates a small commission for the cooperative. Often the coops just break even or are operating in the red. Very few coops are successfully able to offer marketing services to members or have developed business plans.



Here is a tilling machine used to service members fields. This cooperative has 3 machine like this.



Many farmers have been cooperative members since 1978. They do not completely understand the role of the cooperatives or their benefits. All they know is, if it was a succesful year, they will recieve some of the profit in the form of dividends.

The majority of the farmers have rice paddies and grow some fruits and vegetables for their own consumption. Other farms include maise, peanuts, sesame, leafy vegetable produce, mushroom production, frog raising, and some pig farms.

Rice Paddy. Frog Farm. Seseame Field. Green Leafy Vegetables. Very important to the Vietnamese diet.

Some Major Issues

Human Resources
Many farmers and coop leaders are age 60 and over. Young people are finding jobs which pay better in local factories and construction projects so there is a lack of human resources to continue the agriculture lifestyle. With urbanization growing rapidly in the DaNang region farmers are loosing land to development and construction projects.

Lack of Marketing Knowledge or Developed Distribution Channels
Most farmers do not have a stable distibution channel for their products. Often they have the capacity to produce more but are satisfied with growing enough for their family needs and enough to exchange for some fertilizers.

Annual Natural Disasters
This region is prone to annual floods. Many of the farmers must deal with both thier homes and crops flooding to over 1.5m. If you look closely in the photo below of a coop leader and myself, you can see the water stain just behind our heads to where the flood waters rise every year. If the residents are lucky enough thier house is 2 levels and they move the family and all the valuables to the 2nd floor during the flood season. This coop office also moves up to the second floor during the floods which can last anywhere from several days to several weeks. CECI has worked previously in this area to assist with disaster mmitigation to reduce the affects of the flooding. (see links below)

These are just some of the issues the cooperatives and farmers are facing. My assignement is to help identify the issues and develop training sessions to help improve the leadership of the cooperatives. For the next 2 months I will be developing a marketing workshop for the coop leaders. The cooperatives would like to assist the members in developing their distribution channels and develop a brand for their coop which will be recognized in the markets. The problem is many of the leaders do not have any business planning or marketing experience. Ideally one of the employees from the bureau will assist me with the development and delivery of the workshop so that once I am gone they will be able to hold future training sessions and work with the members individually to help them develop their marketing strategies. Stay tuned for more updates - both successes and challenges!

Here is more information on CECI's projects in Vietnam http://www.uniterra.ca/uniterra/en/our_actions/countries/vietnam/in__agriculture_and_rural_development_in_vietnam.html http://publication.ceci.ca/common/dynamic/File/Diapo_reconstruction_Vietnam_ANG_small.pdf




This is a short video of Nhung and I driving through the rice paddies to meet with some local farmers.

Da Nang

After one week in Da Nang things are coming together nicely.

I was given a warm and formal welcome by the Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau. They had the conference room laid out with fresh fruit and a beautiful flower arrangement with a sign that read Welcome Ms Amanda Doreen Hachey. This was our initial meeting where we would discuss my work assignment and my chance to ask them any initial questions. I will have to admit it was a bit intimidating to be the center of everyone's attention. We had a really good discussion about the needs of the agriculture service cooperatives in the Da Nang area and ways to help them improve their services to local farmers.


Afterward we all went out for dinner and had some excellent seafood. Then I learned the 100% tradition; it is when they fill a small glass with either rice wine or beer and everyone cheers and you must drink the whole thing in one gulp. It was a very nice evening and an excellent introduction to my colleagues. There are about 10 people in my office, a director, vice-director, two managers, and support staff. There are four men in the office and the rest are women, can you guess which positions the men hold? You are right if you guessed the 4 senior positions. Vietnam is a very hierarchical society and most management position are held by men. Most of the young girls in the office speak some degree of English and my national partner, Nhung, speaks very well English. Everyone else speaks only Vietnamese. The Director, Mr, Trung invited me out for dinner to meet some of the people I will be working with from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development; Nhung couldn't make it to the dinner so off I went with my dictionary and expressions book. It turned out to be a great evening speaking through the dictionary! We all were talking by way of hand signals, drawing diagrams, whatever it took to get the point across and in any case there is no need to translate laughter, plus after a few 100% it got a bit easier! Mind you we didn't discuss anything to intellectual under the circumstances it was a really great bonding experience. In the Vietnamese culture it is very important to develop a solid friendship with your colleagues before your work relationship. They want to know your age, if you are married, your religion, etc.

My national partner, Nhung, has been an amazing help for me both in and out of the office. She is a working under the Uniterra program as well and acts as my liaison. She translates documents for me, attends meetings with me, explains the Vietnamese culture, etc. She even shows me around the city, helps me negotiate at the market, takes me on trips with her family, anything you can imagine. She is extremely helpful and is really making a smooth transition process for me. Nhung - you are the best!!

So far at work we have been researching the laws, policies, organizational structures, and stakeholders of the agriculture cooperatives in the Da Nang region. Our bureau is responsible for assisting 25 cooperatives with the services they offer their members. Some of them are working quite well, while others are struggling to maintain good services and member participation. We are preparing a survey for the leaders of the cooperatives to access their strengths and weaknesses and once we have completed our initial research we will focus on 2 or 3 cooperatives to work with to help them develop a strategic plan and deliver workshops to help them improve their business practices. The Da Nang region includes 7 districts and the cooperative members are farming everything from rice to flowers to clay mining to shrimp farming.



Anyway enough about work - It is very interesting for me and I still have a lot to learn but so far things are moving along well.

Some Cultural Observations

The Vietnamese women go to great measures to protect their skin from the sun. They wear long gloves, face masks, hats, and socks with sandals while outside or riding on their motorbike to protect their skin from the sun. For them white skin is beautiful. One afternoon in the office I was explaining the concept of a tanning bed and how Canadian women loved their tans!!! They were appalled, just like I was when I found out about the sick day policy.

Sick days - If you work for the government department or agency there is a certain protocol for sick days which completely blew me away. One day last week everyone started to pack up early and explained to me that we were going to go visit Miss Ni at her house because she was home sick that day. So we hopped on the motorcycles, made a brief stop to get some small gifts for Miss Ni and proceeded to her house. There we were welcomed with chocolate and a drink while we chatted. We stayed for about 30 minutes and then left. I wasn't told the exact reasoning behind this ritual but I can come to some conclusions. Imagine having to entertain guests when you are home sick!!










Here is a great view of the City of Da Nang taken from the top floor of my hotel.





Here are the mountains you see in the distance in the picture above. Nhung was nice enough to invite me there for the weekend with her family. It is a great getaway from the noice and heat of the city. Only 1 hour away!



And of course the beautiful ocean...Only a 10 minute bike ride from downtown!! Can you guess where I have been spending my Sunday afternoons:-)